ACC football schedule features U.Va. at Virginia Tech on Black Friday

Virginia and Virginia Tech fans barely will have finished their second helping of Thanksgiving Day vittles before the Black Friday kickoff in next season's installment of the annual football rivalry.

The unique Friday, Nov. 28 date of the U.Va.-Tech game in Blacksburg was one of the highlights included in Wednesday's release of football schedules for all Atlantic Coast Conference teams. While opponents and dates of games were revealed, kickoff times will be released by individual schools at a later date.

Though U.Va. plays one of the most brutal schedules in the ACC next season, it'll only have to leave Charlottesville once in its first six games, while Tech's slate features back-to-back Thursday night games. Tech, which finished 8-5 last season and lost 42-12 to UCLA in the Sun Bowl, plays Thursday, Oct. 16 at Pittsburgh, and Thursday, Oct. 23 against Miami in Lane Stadium.

U.Va., which went 2-10 last season, will play 10 teams that participated in bowls last season. It opens Aug. 30 against UCLA at Scott Stadium, and stays in Charlottesville for games Sept. 6 against Richmond, Sept. 13 against Louisville, Sept. 27 against Kent State and Oct. 4 against Pittsburgh. U.Va.'s only road game in the first six weeks is Sept. 20 at Brigham Young.

"The coaching staff and student-athletes are focused on the process of preparing each and every day to be in a position to execute our assignments on game day," said U.Va. coach Mike London in a statement released by the athletic department. "This schedule will require that we maximize our opportunities to get better as a football program and we're eager for the opportunity to get back on the practice field to get ready for the 2014 season."

In addition to what shapes up as perhaps the ACC's most unrelenting non-conference schedule, U.Va. also has to travel in-conference to play Duke (Oct. 18), Georgia Tech (Nov. 1), Florida State (Nov. 8) and Virginia Tech. U.Va.'s home conference games will be against Louisville, Pittsburgh, North Carolina (Oct. 25) and Miami (Nov. 22).

Louisville, which joins the ACC in July, will be U.Va.'s new annual crossover opponent from the Atlantic Division. Maryland, which was U.Va.'s Atlantic crossover opponent, is headed to the Big Ten.

U.Va. and Virginia Tech have only played on Black Friday one other time — a 26-9 win by Tech in 1996 in Blacksburg. It's the last road game for U.Va. in a stretch where it plays four of its final six games away from home. U.Va.'s open dates are Oct. 11 and Nov. 15.

Tech opens its season Aug. 30 against William and Mary before traveling Sept. 6 for a much-anticipated matchup at Ohio State. The trip to Ohio State and the Oct. 16 game at Pittsburgh are the only times Tech will travel outside of North Carolina or Virginia all season.

After Ohio State, Virginia Tech returns to Blacksburg for three consecutive weeks to play East Carolina (Sept. 13), Georgia Tech (Sept. 20) and Western Michigan (Sept. 27). Virginia Tech also has conference games at home against Miami, Boston College (Nov. 1) and U.Va.

Tech will hit the road for ACC games at UNC (Oct. 4), Pittsburgh, Duke (Nov. 15) and Wake Forest (Nov. 22). In an odd scheduling quirk, Tech will play just three games (at Pittsburgh, against Miami and against BC) in the 40-day span from Oct. 5 through Nov. 14. Tech's open dates are Oct. 11 and Nov. 8.

"This will be a challenging schedule, with eight teams that went to bowl games last season," said Tech coach Frank Beamer in a release from Tech's athletic department. "I think our fans are excited that we have added a national power like Ohio State. We also feel playing back-to-back Thursday night games, along with a home game against Virginia on the Friday after Thanksgiving, will provide a tremendous amount of exposure."